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Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

The Pacers wrapped up their rookie/free agent camp at Conseco Fieldhouse on Sunday.

You can tell things will be different around the Fieldhouse.

New coach Jim O’Brien let the media watch most of practice, which included a lot of scrimmaging. He even kept the curtains around the practice court open, allowing fans on the outside to get sneak peak at the team.

Shawne Williams walked by me after practice Saturday and said, “I’ve never worked this hard in my life.”

I can’t compare O’Brien’s style to Rick Carlisle’s because Carlisle only let the media watch them shoot free throws. I can say this, though, it may only be July, but I like what I see out of O'Brien.

O’Brien is real hands on with his players and preaches fundamental basketball like how to set a screen and where to have your hands positioned on defense. He is quick to praise a player when he does something good.

One, or I should say, a couple of the things that stood out over the weekend is that there is no doubt that O’Brien likes to run and shoot the 3-point shot.

O’Brien and his staff pointed out to players when they took long 2-point shots or had their foot on the 3-point line. O’Brien was constantly telling his players to get the ball up the court quick. He stopped a drill once to point out that the shot clock was down to 20 seconds and they hadn’t crossed half court yet.

Here are a couple of other tidbits

--The Pacers are still looking for a backup point guard.
They’ve talked to the agents of Chucky Atkins, Jason Hart, Mo Williams and Keith McLeod. Tony Delk, who O’Brien coached at Boston and the University of Kentucky, is also a possibility as a third point guard.

--Kareem Rush isn’t as good of a pure shooter as Jason Kapono, but I like his acquisition better because he’s not a one-dimensional player. Rush can put the ball on the ground and attack the basket. Kapono isn’t effective if you take away his shot.

The Pacers wrapped up their rookie/free agent camp at Conseco Fieldhouse on Sunday.

You can tell things will be different around the Fieldhouse.

New coach Jim O’Brien let the media watch most of practice, which included a lot of scrimmaging. He even kept the curtains around the practice court open, allowing fans on the outside to get sneak peak at the team.

Shawne Williams walked by me after practice Saturday and said, “I’ve never worked this hard in my life.”

I can’t compare O’Brien’s style to Rick Carlisle’s because Carlisle only let the media watch them shoot free throws. I can say this, though, it may only be July, but I like what I see out of O'Brien.

O’Brien is real hands on with his players and preaches fundamental basketball like how to set a screen and where to have your hands positioned on defense. He is quick to praise a player when he does something good.

One, or I should say, a couple of the things that stood out over the weekend is that there is no doubt that O’Brien likes to run and shoot the 3-point shot.

O’Brien and his staff pointed out to players when they took long 2-point shots or had their foot on the 3-point line. O’Brien was constantly telling his players to get the ball up the court quick. He stopped a drill once to point out that the shot clock was down to 20 seconds and they hadn’t crossed half court yet.

Here are a couple of other tidbits

--The Pacers are still looking for a backup point guard.
They’ve talked to the agents of Chucky Atkins, Jason Hart, Mo Williams and Keith McLeod. Tony Delk, who O’Brien coached at Boston and the University of Kentucky, is also a possibility as a third point guard.

--Kareem Rush isn’t as good of a pure shooter as Jason Kapono, but I like his acquisition better because he’s not a one-dimensional player. Rush can put the ball on the ground and attack the basket. Kapono isn’t effective if you take away his shot.

Comments

LOL Hahaha OMG friggin Kareem "Wanna-be Kareem Adul Jabar" Rush is NOT a one-dimensional player. The very same guy we dump on the friggin WHO? Bobcats? Who is the Bocats? and end up with his lazy a$$ getting dump like trash again by the Cats. Wow KAREEM RUSH!

Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

That's certainly good to hear.

I previously said I didn't want Jason Hart but I was talking about having him as a starter. I wouldn't mind him as a backup though. Out of the list of players I saw though, Mo Williams is the best but if we can't move Tinsley there's no way he'll want to come play here. If we can't move Tinsley I'd prefer re-signing McLeod.

The Pacers wrapped up their rookie/free agent camp at Conseco Fieldhouse on Sunday.

You can tell things will be different around the Fieldhouse.

New coach Jim O’Brien let the media watch most of practice, which included a lot of scrimmaging. He even kept the curtains around the practice court open, allowing fans on the outside to get sneak peak at the team.

Shawne Williams walked by me after practice Saturday and said, “I’ve never worked this hard in my life.”

I can’t compare O’Brien’s style to Rick Carlisle’s because Carlisle only let the media watch them shoot free throws. I can say this, though, it may only be July, but I like what I see out of O'Brien.

O’Brien is real hands on with his players and preaches fundamental basketball like how to set a screen and where to have your hands positioned on defense. He is quick to praise a player when he does something good.

One, or I should say, a couple of the things that stood out over the weekend is that there is no doubt that O’Brien likes to run and shoot the 3-point shot.

O’Brien and his staff pointed out to players when they took long 2-point shots or had their foot on the 3-point line. O’Brien was constantly telling his players to get the ball up the court quick. He stopped a drill once to point out that the shot clock was down to 20 seconds and they hadn’t crossed half court yet.

Here are a couple of other tidbits

--The Pacers are still looking for a backup point guard.
They’ve talked to the agents of Chucky Atkins, Jason Hart, Mo Williams and Keith McLeod. Tony Delk, who O’Brien coached at Boston and the University of Kentucky, is also a possibility as a third point guard.

--Kareem Rush isn’t as good of a pure shooter as Jason Kapono, but I like his acquisition better because he’s not a one-dimensional player. Rush can put the ball on the ground and attack the basket. Kapono isn’t effective if you take away his shot.

Comments

I cried tears of joy at him stopping practice to correct them for taking more than 4 seconds to get the ball up the court. That, that deserves a banana dance or maybe even TWO banana dances.

Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

LOL Hahaha OMG friggin Kareem "Wanna-be Kareem Adul Jabar" Rush is NOT a one-dimensional player. The very same guy we dump on the friggin WHO? Bobcats? Who is the Bocats? and end up with his lazy a$$ getting dump like trash again by the Cats. Wow KAREEM RUSH!

By the way, who is the bocats? I looked them up, and I still can't imagine why Kareem Rush was traded to a three-piece cover band in Jacksonville. There isn't an NBA team for hundreds of miles.

To the rest of PD: Do not feed the trolls, and please do not bait them into coming here and littering up our board with garbage like the rest of this post.

Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

To the rest of PD: Do not feed the trolls, and please do not bait them into coming here and littering up our board with garbage like the rest of this post.

You didn't even give an opportunity to explain. Like I said, I wasn't directing at the direction of the Pacers organization. I was laughing at the writer of the article who thinks Kareem Rush is more important to a team than Jason Kapono.

C'com, are you guys really this sensitive from a fan who just expressed his honesty about certain players who he knew because he once played for us? The writer hyped up and put too much hope in Kareem. From my opinion, when he played for the Lakers, he is a team cancer. Why? because he is lazy and he thinks he has the skill and talent to be a Lakers starter. But in what position he wants? he can't play PG because he has no playmaker or passing ability. He wants to replace Kobe which are one of the reasons he got shipped out of LA.

The guy is a streaky shooter as hell. When he's hot, he can makes 3 with the best of them. But when he's not, don't be surprise of him having a 10-20 game of lackluster performance, while probably not showing up ready for practice.

Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

C'com, are you guys really this sensitive from a fan who just expressed his honesty about certain players who he knew because he once played for us?

Showtime, not at all. Your last post was great and exactly what PD strives for. Your first post on the subject had that troll feel to it and something this site avoids.

You know how hippos are made out to be sweet and silly, like big cows, but are actually extremely dangerous and can kill you with stunning brutality? The Pacers are the NBA's hippos....Matt Moore CBS Sports....

Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

Bitter table for one, bitter table for one (isn't bitter always a table for ONE)

Anyway he's not the league MVP that Crittenden will clearly be, but hopefully a solid bench guy.

Anyway again, Rush is a shooter on a team that needs shooters, playing for a coach who wants you to shoot. Not and allstar, but like any team if you can find a niche you can be very valuable, now Kapono is as one dimensional as they come, imho, so if Rush can do anything else besides shoot, I can see the argument.

The other side is Rush may never see the court, it's too early to make determinations on any of these guys. It would be as ridiculous as comparing a mid/late first round pick to Chauncy Billups/Baron Davis after one summer league game.

Otherwise, that teacher in Obie and the optimism will go a loooonnnnnngggg way with this group, I think.

Kareem Rush is not a shooter. He's not a consistent shooter like Kapono. You want a guy who is a master of what he's doing rather than a guy who is mediocre with everything he does. Kareem Rush is that guy. He's not good with anything. And his attitude is not something you want on a team.

Showtime, not at all. Your last post was great and exactly what PD strives for. Your first post on the subject had that troll feel to it and something this site avoids.

Okay...I'm not a troll by any mean. I don't how you can't see that. I even bolded the part in the article as a mean to why I inserted the icon. If you are talking about troll, looks at MagicRat's post (I don't mean to attack him btw, just an example I want to show). How is a post consist of "boo...." is any better than mine?

It seems to me I got hate because I'm a Lakers fan, and not a Pacers fan in a Pacers forum.

Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

--The Pacers are still looking for a backup point guard.
They’ve talked to the agents of Chucky Atkins, Jason Hart, Mo Williams and Keith McLeod. Tony Delk, who O’Brien coached at Boston and the University of Kentucky, is also a possibility as a third point guard.

what? we're asking mo williams to come play backup pg for us? and to take less money too? no wonder we're not finding success in free agency

Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

You know where Obie is much better than Carslisle? Dealing with the media.

Now, Rick was always nice and friendly and he's a good analyst, but he was very "protective" of his guys and kept his hand close to his chest.

Obie loves to set up photo ops, cultivate relationships, and talk to the media.

I guess we know why he's a survivor and keeps getting jobs.

I don't think that's really accurate though. I mean he got the hard dump in Philly after a +500 season for team that was clearly in a tough spot, and was sitting out doing small writing jobs for ESPN. He hasn't even done as much with the NBA as Bob Hill. Until Bird pulled him out of nowhere off a couple of phone calls he wasn't in the coaching replacement buzz since the Philly job.

I don't know what to think about the open practice. I don't think it's inherently wrong, but unlike Wells I don't see it as inherently better either. Sure we like it but I'm sure plenty of coaches keep it closed and for good reasons.

On the Rush/Kapono comment, I actually think it's right to criticize Wells here a bit. Based on recent history Showtime's point is dead-on. Kapono is so good at his one dimension that he fits in an NBA plan, while Rush's streaky shooting wasn't compensated by anything else he did because none of it was good enough to have a major impact.

This MIGHT end up being a new Rush, but it will be a rebirth for him if it is, not a natural progression. We all hope it works out for both sides, but it's WAY too early to expect it to be this way. Right now Kapono remains the far better choice, especially considering who Rush is going off the dribble against.

When Rush shoots anywhere close to Kapono's rate AND can get by Billups from time to time, then I'll listen to that angle. Until then I'm very tenative on the acquisition.

Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

I think 07-08 is going to be a fun season for Pacers basketball. Regardless of wins and losses, it's definitely a new era here. We're finally going to see the kind of basketball we've been wanting to see here for some time. I think we'll be better for two reasons: 1. The players will have fun 2. Because the players will have fun playing, the fans will have fun watching and cheering.

Showtime, I didn't say you're a troll. I said your first post in this thread had a troll feel, but your second post is what makes this a good site.

You know how hippos are made out to be sweet and silly, like big cows, but are actually extremely dangerous and can kill you with stunning brutality? The Pacers are the NBA's hippos....Matt Moore CBS Sports....

Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

"--Kareem Rush isn’t as good of a pure shooter as Jason Kapono, but I like his acquisition better because he’s not a one-dimensional player. Rush can put the ball on the ground and attack the basket.Kapono isn’t effective if you take away his shot."

I think when it's all said and done Pacers fans are going to like that TPTB got Rush at a bargain basement price over Kapono. Maybe we will start to see more options during crunch time instead of the old standard "toss up a 18-20 footer and pray that it's the game winner".

For my money, I'd much rather see a team force the defense to protect the basket from cutters and slasher in the final minutes of a game than I would a team just settle for jump shots. The only way you put a team back on its heals is if you force it to defend you. Having a few slashing options will do that because you're no longer just 1 or 2 dimentional. Add in a slasher when you already have a low-post presence, as well as a deep ball threat and you can throw a team so far off balance it ain't even funny! IMO, adding someone like Rush to the mix - someone who can shoot the deep ball as well as slash to the basket (provided he pans out, of course) - can be a dangerous weapon to have indeed.